The Adventure Zone


The Adventure Zone is a weekly comedy and adventure actual play podcast, in which the McElroy family play Dungeons & Dragons along with other role-playing games. The show is distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy, and their father Clint McElroy. Regular episodes of the podcast feature the family solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and leveling up their characters in a series of cinematic and humorous encounters.
The Adventure Zone originated as a special episode of My Brother, My Brother and Me in 2014, which was spun off into a separate biweekly podcast later that year. The first 69 episode campaign Balance was followed by a series of short experimental arcs in the late 2010s, and subsequent campaigns have generally run for 30 to 45 episodes. To date, eleven campaigns have been depicted in a variety of game systems, with further settings used for live shows and donor bonus material. The show switched to a seasonal format from 2022, in which the family can return to earlier settings for further episodes.
The podcast has been credited alongside Critical Role with the Dungeons & Dragons renaissance that began in the mid 2010s, and influenced later shows in the actual play genre such as Dimension 20. Balance has since been adapted into a New York Times best selling graphic novel series. The podcast is often represented by the stone rune ᛥ as a logo, which was the symbol of the Bureau of Balance in the first campaign.

History

Origins & ''Balance'' (2014–2017)

In 2010, the McElroy brothers launched their flagship podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me, a comedic advice podcast which joined the Maximum Fun network in 2011. During the 97th episode in May 2012, the brothers answered a question about a Dungeons & Dragons game—which Justin called "The Adventure Zone".
The McElroy brothers would ultimately begin playing with their father Clint in the summer of 2014, using the newly released Starter Set for the fifth edition of D&D, which was released that July. The set came with the module The Lost Mine of Phandelver, which served as the basis for the first few sessions. The first of these recordings was initially released as an experimental MBMBaM episode entitled The Adventure Zone on August 18, 2014, to cover for Justin's paternity leave. Starting that December, The Adventure Zone was then expanded into its own podcast on the Maximum Fun network, releasing biweekly. Griffin McElroy served as the show's primary host and Dungeon Master for the show's first campaign, later titled the Balance Arc. The campaign concluded with Episode 69 in August 2017. Additionally, three special episodes were released over the course of the campaign, titled The "The Adventure Zone" Zone, and these act as "an informal chat show" discussing the game.
"Déjà Vu" by Mort Garson served as the primary theme song for The Adventure Zone during the Balance Arc, as well as various interstitials and backing tracks. Griffin McElroy also created original compositions to enhance the show's production. Balance was highly popular; by 2016 a graphic novel adaptation was announced. These would ultimately begin running in 2018, with each volume covering one quest from the campaign.

Experimental arcs & ''Amnesty'' (2017–2019)

Following the conclusion of the Balance campaign in August 2017, the McElroys decided to work on smaller "experimental arcs", a set of shorter campaigns using other systems, in order to give themselves time to develop their next overarching storyline. Three experimental arcs were aired from October 2017 to March 2018, with the show temporarily moving to a weekly schedule to get to a full second campaign more quickly. These experimental arcs included Clint's Commitment arc, Griffin's Amnesty arc, and the first four episodes of Travis's Dust arc. Each of these arcs takes place in their own game worlds separate from those explored in the other campaigns, though elements have crossed over since.
With the conclusion of these experimental arcs, the McElroys announced that Amnesty would be "Season 2". Griffin McElroy again took on the role of game master as they returned to the Amnesty setting for a further 31 episodes. While the arc was inspired by Monster of the Week shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, Griffin stated that the arc is mostly based on the Persona game series. To replicate the less connected nature of the former's 1990s setting, Kepler is situated in West Virginia's section of the National Radio Quiet Zone. Hal Lublin provides a guest voice in two episodes. The campaign ended after 36 episodes on September 23, 2019.
When performing live, the McElroy family continued to predominantly use the Balance setting in this period, though two Amnesty live shows, The Ballad of Bigfoot and Amnesty Halloween Special, released on October 17, 2019, and November 12, 2020, respectively. Additional episodes of The "The Adventure Zone" Zone were released at the start and conclusion of the main run of Amnesty.

''Graduation'' (2019–2021)

All four cast members played as guests in Dimension 20’s Tiny Heist campaign, a game DMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan and released in early 2020 on the Dropout network. Travis, the Dungeon Master of the upcoming arc, was inspired by Tiny Heists worldbuilding, commenting that "the world in that was so well thought through that it was basically like a big playground..." Travis's role as DM was confirmed in a SyFy Wire interview. A trailer for Graduation released on October 18 and announced a return to the Dungeons & Dragons system. The fantasy themed campaign, centered around a school for heroes and villains, ran from October 31, 2019, to April 15, 2021. The arc was poorly received, with reviewers citing Travis's lack of experience as a DM, as well as the very high number of NPCs. Travis considered stepping back from the show around the 20th episode, and having someone else brought in to finish the season, but decided that would be unfair to those who were invested, including the players.
There were few live shows during the run of Graduation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and none of these made use of Graduation's Nua setting. A "Laughter & Love" McElroy family tour in April 2020 would have featured The Adventure Zone performances in Boston and Baltimore. Instead of Nua or another established setting, a series of new campaign settings were used in virtual live shows, sometimes with multiple episodes and continuity between performances. These minor campaigns include Fur, Hootenanny, Inheritance, Just Us, Mercer and Lords of Crunch.
Peacock announced in January 2020 that it had commissioned a script for an animated adaptation of The Adventure Zone, though the series did not progress beyond that stage.

''Ethersea'' (2021–2022)

Before the finale of Graduation, Griffin McElroy confirmed in an interview with Brennan Lee Mulligan that the fourth season of Adventure Zone would also be played in the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition system, and would involve ships. The campaign's name, Ethersea, and a brief trailer were released on May 3, 2021. The series is set in and around the submarine city of Founder's Wake, for which Griffin McElroy drew inspiration from a number of sources including The Eternal Darkness: A Personal History of Deep-Sea Exploration by Robert Ballard. A special primer episode was released on October 12 for the Maximum Fun Block Party, introducing new listeners to the podcast and suggesting where to begin- with Justin recommending Ethersea, Griffin recommending Balance, Clint recommending Amnesty and Travis recommending his experimental arc Dust. An Imbalance mini-series was released in November 2021 under a new moniker, The Zone of Adventure. The game featured Aabria Iyengar as DM and released on YouTube rather than through the Maximum Fun network. The series also included video of the players, rather than being recorded simply as a podcast. Ethersea continued to air alongside it during November.
There were several formatting changes brought into effect for Ethersea. Unlike previous arcs, in which world-building was undertaken privately by the GM, the world-building for Ethersea was a collaborative effort. This took the form of a five-episode prologue using the game system The Quiet Year, with the campaign proper beginning on July 8. The McElroys were able to hire Rachel Jacobs to handle post production of the series rather than editing it themselves, which made it possible for them to switch to a weekly rather than biweekly schedule.
With the pandemic still underway in the United States, the McElroys began a limited return to live shows, with performances at Emerald City Comic Con in 2021, as well as "live and virtual" remote shows. These used a variety of systems and settings, with some returning to the Hootenanny continuity seen in occasional live shows since 2019. This was followed by the "Fancy Takes Flight Tour" from March to July 2022, which featured several Adventure Zone performances across the United States, along with other McElroy family shows. Future live shows performed after the original run of Ethersea would broadly maintain the format- using one-shots in unique settings and occasionally reprising Hootenanny.

''Steeplechase'' & switch to seasonal format (2022–2023)

With the conclusion of Ethersea in August 2022, the McElroys announced that The Adventure Zone would be adopting a seasonal format- with Dust returning for a short second season later that year, a new Steeplechase campaign to follow and finally a planned second season for Ethersea in the future. Dust aired as a four episode arc in September 2022, with Erika Ishii as a guest star. Steeplechase was the first arc to be GMed by Justin McElroy, set in a vast layered theme park. Justin McElroy cited the theme park documentary series Defunctland as an inspiration, while the layout of their home-layer Ustaben was based on Kings Island. The episodes were introduced by the character "Krystal with a K", in short clips inspired by Disney food vloggers. Krystal was voiced by Autumn Seavey Hicks.
Some technical changes were made during Steeplechase's run, with Griffin McElroy producing only the main theme for the arc with the rest of the soundtrack sourced externally by Jacobs. This included a rendition of Ephemera's theme song "Dream it to Now", which was produced for the finale by Eric Near. In September 2023, the family streamed "lofi taz radio ᛥ - beats to relax/study cantrips to", featuring 4 hours and 20 minutes of Griffin's original music from The Adventure Zone, and an animated rendition of the family surrounded by references to the series. The video is in the style of other YouTube lo-fi streams.
In an episode of The The Adventure Zone Zone following the conclusion of Steeplechase, the family revealed that the next arc would be GMed by Clint McElroy, in his first stint as GM on the show since Commitment in 2017. The shorter arc, named Outre Space, is a continuation of the story of War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery, the 2019 comic which starred Miles Morales, Kate Bishop, and Wonder Man, and had originally been written by the family. The arc also features Kate Welch and Gabe Hicks as guest players, portraying Kate Bishop and Miles Morales respectively. Outre Space aired across four episodes in late 2023.